


The Story of El-ahrairah and the Rabbits of Cloud Recesses

by zylaa



Category: Watership Down - Richard Adams, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)
Genre: Crack, Fluff, M/M, background LWJ/WWX, it's all about the rabbits, literal fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23972770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zylaa/pseuds/zylaa
Summary: The Black Rabbit of Inle and El-ahrairah are both very disappointed in the warren of Cloud Recesses, though for very different reasons.
Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Comments: 22
Kudos: 96





	The Story of El-ahrairah and the Rabbits of Cloud Recesses

**Author's Note:**

> Watership Down is my favorite book , so I've spent a very long time trying to figure out how the rabbits of The Untamed fit in. Please enjoy this exceedingly fluffy crossover. Many thanks to @chatcolat for the beta read!

Rabbits do not drink alcohol.This is one of those facts that generally goes without saying, like “rabbits do not fly to the treetops like birds” and “rabbits do not drink the blood of their prey.” Nevertheless, the air of the two rabbits on the outskirts of Cloud Recesses would have been instantly recognized by anyone who has spent an evening drowning their sorrows with friends over a bottle or two of wine.

The right-hand rabbit was brown and appeared to be in the prime of his life. He seemed like any wild rabbit except for a glimmer in his ears, whiskers, and tail, barely visible in the sunlight of this absurdly bright and cheerful day.

The left-hand rabbit was the cry of a fox in the night, the talons of a silent owl, the glint of a snare hidden in the brush. He was as unshakeable and unknowable as the mountains he sat upon. It’s difficult, I know, for humans to conceptualize a rabbit that truly strikes fear into the heart; nevertheless, such was this rabbit.

El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inle, not being bound by the mortal rules of space and time, dropped in on rabbitkind all over the world, whether to help or harm them (rabbitkind knew that either rabbit was capable of both). Every so often, their travels brought them to Cloud Recesses, though not always at the same time.

El-ahrairah sulked as he watched the white, fluffy, healthy bunnies laze in the sun. The Black Rabbit of Inle was beyond the whims and understandings of mere mortals, and had anyone asked, he would have denied ever doing anything as dramatic as _brooding_. But he did seem to be glowering a bit more than usual as he overlooked the white rabbits.

“They know nothing of trickery,” El-ahrairah complained. He scratched one of his starlit ears. “They flop around as they wish without even bothering to check the wind for the scent of predators. They wear _human clothes_. They have no fences or cages, but they don’t run from humans. They cuddle with humans, even.”

“And yet they _still don’t die,_ ” said the Black Rabbit, in a voice as morose as the hoot of an owl that has missed its prey. El-ahrairah gave him a sideways glance. 

“They die eventually,” he said.

“Yes, yes, healthy and happy at the end of long, peaceful lives,” said the Black Rabbit, bitterly.

A young doe hopped through the grass, the better to nibble at some particularly succulent greenery. An old buck stretched out in a patch of sun, the better to warm himself. All in all, you couldn’t wish for a more peaceful scene.

“Their caretaker does seem devoted to them,” said El-ahrairah. The Black Rabbit of Inle harrumphed. El-ahrairah continued, undeterred, “I snuck into their vegetable garden, once. I thought that with such unmotivated rabbits, the gardeners must have gotten lazy. It was a feast! I was working through a cabbage as big as myself when the gardener surprised me. I took off running, of course. The gardener had some trickery of his own to try and stop me, but then the caretaker of the rabbits showed up. He gave the gardener a _look_ —yes, like the one you’re making now, very good—and the gardener stopped in his tracks. Unaccountable. I’ve never seen a human like that.”

They sat in silence for a minute.

“I do not give _looks_ ,” said the Black Rabbit of Inle. The air around the two rabbits grew cold with the chill of a collapsed warren in winter, when the ground is iced over and the Thousand are growing ever-hungrier.

“Of course not, of course not,” El-ahrairah said quickly.

“I am the Black Rabbit of Inle. I have no need for _looks_.”

“Forget I said anything.”

Human voices drifted through the air. The Black Rabbit turned his attention to the new sound, as did El-ahrairah, with some relief.

“It is the keeper of the rabbits,” said the Black Rabbit.

“Not just him,” said El-ahrairah. 

The humans came into view around the trees—the stern one, dressed in white, as always, with the same type of ribbon around his head that the rabbits had once worn. Next to him walked a man in black and red bursting with energy, as if to make up for the serenity of the rabbits’ caretaker. The man in black and red laughed, tossing some kind of carved bamboo into the air and twirling it.

The Black Rabbit of Inle sprang to his feet and hissed like a wildcat. 

El-ahrairah stamped and almost bolted out of instinct. He looked back at the Black Rabbit of Inle in shock. The Gusu Lan rabbits, of course, continued grazing without a care, though some pricked up their ears and watched the humans.

“What was that?” El-ahrairah said, faintly. 

“Can you not tell? That man has stopped running.” 

El-ahrairah looked down at the laughing man. Both humans settled down into the grass, reaching out for the indolent rabbits.

“He looks very alive to me,” said El-ahrairah.

“Yes, that’s the problem,” said the Black Rabbit with a touch of impatience. “He stopped running and then he started again.”

“Really now?” El-ahrairah looked at the man with more interest. The man picked up one of the white rabbits and nuzzled it. El-ahrairah could almost overlook the indignity to rabbitkind, in his curiosity. He’d never seen anything that could discomfit the Black Rabbit of Inle. “I’m getting a closer look.”

The Black Rabbit of Inle did not try to stop him as he hopped down the slope. He stayed cautious, ready to bolt if the once-dead human tried anything threatening. Beyond, apparently, existing.

“Ah—Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, look! Two visiting rabbits.” He’d seen both of them, then. Lan Zhan—the rabbit caretaker—looked at El-ahrairah, then up into the trees and underbrush. He kept scanning the brush. El-ahrairah looked back—the Black Rabbit of Inle had regained his composure and glowered down at the lot of them.

“I see only one,” said Lan Zhan. “Where is the second, Wei Ying?”

Wei Ying pointed directly at the Black Rabbit of Inle, then looked over at Lan Zhan with the same carefree smile. The smile slipped as Lan Zhan continued to search the forest floor. “You can’t see him?” Wei Ying looked back and forth between the Black Rabbit and Lan Zhan a few more times, tapping his nose, before turning to El-ahrairah. “Well, you are certainly a real rabbit.”

“He steals our vegetables,” said Lan Zhan, without turning away from his fruitless quest to see the other rabbit.

“Ah! For shame, rabbit-gongzi.” El-ahrairah sat back in affront.

“He is shameless,” Lan Zhan said. “He reminds me of you.” Now it was Wei Ying’s turn to be affronted—he clasped his hand over his heart.

“Lan Zhan! When have I ever stolen vegetables from Cloud Recesses?”

“Mn. You’ve stolen many things,” Lan Zhan said.

El-ahrairah hopped closer to the rabbits. Perhaps it would be worth it to try talking to them. He’d done so once before, many, many seasons ago. A frustrating experience for him and the rabbits both. But he can’t remember any of them mentioning this man.

Suddenly, hands grasped El-ahrairah’s waist. Wei Ying _lifted him into the air_ like some kind of puppy. El-ahrairah was too shocked to react, at first. How had the human moved so suddenly? He’d been at least a dozen rabbit-lengths away!

Wei Ying held him up to his face, and El-ahrairah looked him in the eyes for the first time. He did not become any _less_ shocked to recognize the piercing, calculating look of another trickster.

“Rabbit-gongzi, please tell me—is your friend dangerous?”

“Wei Ying, that’s a wild rabbit,” Lan Zhan said. His tone might have had the slightest bit of emotion in it. Perhaps a cupful of warning and concern.

“Lan Zhan, this is no ordinary rabbit,” Wei Ying said, patiently. “I just need him to tell us whether his friend will hurt our rabbits.” 

_Our_ rabbits. So this Lan Zhan was not alone in protecting this warren. El-ahrairah relaxed. He felt he understood, now. He’d seen this before in his own warrens. Often his Owsla members came to him with the same tale. The cost of victory—the people you protected wouldn’t learn trickery, or cleverness, or caution. When you made a warren safe, _really_ safe, your rabbits didn’t learn the tricks.

But a warren always needed at least one trickster.

El-ahrairah wriggled out of Wei Ying’s grasp and landed softly on the ground. He bobbed up and down a few times, imitating the manner of humans in this land when they wished to show respect.

“See, Lan Zhan? I told you he was an extraordinary rabbit.”

“Then what did he say?” said Lan Zhan fondly. El-ahrairah turned and hopped back towards the ridge where the Black Rabbit of Inle glowered.

“Why, that our rabbits are safe, of course. He’s thanking us for the great care we took of them. Well, I imagine he meant to thank mostly you. I could hardly do much to help in the past years, could I?” El-ahrairah, out of the corner of his eye, caught the two men clasping their hands together and squeezing, once. 

When he returned to the ridge, he said to the Black Rabbit of Inle, “Please never mention this to anyone.”

“Hm,” said the Black Rabbit of Inle. “What did you learn by that risk, El-ahrairah?”

“You of all people should know it was no risk,” El-ahrairah scoffed. “I’ve simply learned something new. I had not thought a human could learn the skills of rabbitry. But this Wei Ying seems to have the situation well in hand.”

“And your people are safe,” the Black Rabbit of Inle said. El-ahrairah could not tell, this time, what emotion the Black Rabbit might have behind those words.

“Yes,” he said. Below them, the rabbits of the warren hopped around the humans, sometimes onto them. The sound of a flute filled the hills as the afternoon shaded to gold. The warren was at peace. For the first time in his many, many years, El-ahrairah was pleased to see humans at peace too.


End file.
